Really Alone
by abetternameneeded
Summary: AU/Canon Divergent. "I snuck in every day to play chess with her." What if when Wish!Hook was poisoned he never told Alice that he was leaving? Alice OOC because of the change in events.


"Ok, Starfish. I have to go now, I'll be back for our game tomorrow. You be good." It pained Killian to leave the girl alone, but he had to. He couldn't live here. The spell entrapping Alice wouldn't allow him to stay after a certain time of day. For some reason. But he always came back for her. Always. He'd climb in every day and spend as long as he could be playing with her and teaching her about the world she _would_ go visit one day.

"Bye, papa." He smiled and left the tower.

"Great job! You won!" he told her after their last chess game for the day. "I'll see you tomorrow." And there were many tomorrows.

And then one day it was the last. Neither of them knew it. But one day he didn't come back.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Starfish." he had promised her. As he had said so many times before. Thousands by Alice's count. Where was he? She sat staring at the chess board. It had been ready for their game. She had been ready. Was he not coming back for her? Had he forgotten? Maybe he'd lost track of time? Maybe she had? So, she waited. And she waited. And he never came. Maybe he had something he had to do.

"Your hearts poisoned, Captain" Gothel gloated. "You go near that tower and you'll die. And then what good are you to _our_ daughter then?"

Killian recoiled at the thought any part of this woman was connected to Alice in any way at all.

"Our daughter? Where have you been for the last decade? I fed her. I played with her. I made sure she was happy. And you? You, witch, made her a prisoner so you could have your freedom."

"Yes, I did do that didn't I?" Gothel said glaring at the former pirate Captain with a gleam of what could only be taken as glee, "And now your precious Alice is awaiting your return that will never come. Good luck to you."

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

"You see, much like a plant, hate is a thing that has to be nurtured in order to grow. And I need someone in my bloodline to hate the world and believe in my cause to destroy it. Good day, Captain. I'd be careful with that heart of yours, I hear the pain is…...to die for." And with that the vile witch was gone as soon as she came.

Killian Jones sat there. His daughter. Alice. He was going to break a promise. He promised he'd be back. He promised her so many things. He couldn't go back. He'd die. The witch was villainous and cruel, but she was right. If he was dead he couldn't free her. So, he'd have to find a cure for his heart first.

Alice sat again staring at the chess board. Should she just play by herself? She was used to being alone sometimes. But papa always came back for her. She knew he couldn't stay at night. But he promised he'd come back. He always came back. And then he didn't. Days passed. Then weeks. Then months. Then years. She'd given up hope. He'd forgotten her. He'd abandoned her. No one cared about her. Not her mother, had pa–she didn't finish the word. She never called him that any more. She barely thought the word father- lied about her too? Maybe she wasn't as cruel as he had said. She wanted out of this bloody cage. No one knew she was here. The only person that had ever even pretended to care about her had left her to die. Sure, she could take of herself, but it was awful not having anyone. He hadn't even bothered to tell her goodbye. She hated that she wanted revenge. He had said revenge was never the answer. But why in bloody hell would she listen to the advice of someone that had lied to her? Left her to rot in a cage all for what reason? He never returned to tell her. She glared at an animal that got to close to her window and yelled at it. She had been nice at one point. "Gentle as they came" he had told her. What had gentle gotten her? Nothing. Where had it gotten her? Bloody nowhere. She sat on the windowsill and screamed. No one could hear her. Not that anyone bloody cared.

Killian had been searching for the cure for years. He hadn't found it. He'd given up. Alice might be dead at this point. He had no way of knowing. He had an idea. It was an awful one. And it was aided by both is desperation and more rum than he cared to admit. He was drinking again. Alice didn't know why he had left. And that made all the difference. He had broken his promise and never told her why. He hoped she didn't hate him. She'd never been one to hate when he'd known her.

"Hello, Alice," Gothel said after appearing inside the room.

"What?" Alice snapped. Yet another person to leave her? She didn't care. She'd deal with it, she supposed.

"Want out of here?" Gothel offered. The girl had stewed in her hate for her father long enough. She might just help if she asked her to.

"What's the point?" Alice mumbled. "No one cares about me. My father abandoned me. My mother did the same. Unless he lied about that to? Do you know?" she had forced out as much of her accent as she could. Tried to sound as little like the man that had abandoned her as possible.

"Yes. I do know. He didn't lie about me. But I was honest about my intentions. I never claimed that I wanted you. I don't lie. He does."

That was exactly what Alice wanted to hear and Gothel knew it. "So, care if I get you out of here?"

"Go ahead." Alice snarled at the woman.

Gothel broke the spell.

"There. Your free. Do whatever you want."

That was the first phase of Gothel's plan. Freeing the girl would win her some favor.

Alice explored the world. It was fine. She liked being free, but she still felt a surge of jealously when she saw people hanging out with others. She wasn't sure what to do. None of her father's advice meant anything to her. The little of it she hadn't forced herself to forget.

Killian had been spared by the other him and his wife. Had even met their baby daughter and their adult son. Their son who wasn't t much older than Alice would be now.

And then one day she saw him. Her may-as-bloody-well-be-dead father standing next to a blonde woman. Her "father" holding a baby, cooing at it.

"YOU!" Alice yells shocking Captain Hook out of his task.

"Hi."

"How dare you!" Alice yelled at him. "You had a kid? You left me in a bloody cage! My mother found me! She freed me! She didn't lie to me. You did! You promised! You said you'd be back! I waited for our chess game! For days! I waited for days. and then weeks. and then months. and then years. Do you know how old I am? Because I don't! I lost count waiting for you to come back for me. And you never did. And here you are? Living your life. With a new kid. Are you going to abandoned him too? Or is that a girl? You replaced me?"

Alice was screaming through tears.

"No, you don't understand, I'm not who you think I am."

"No. You're exactly who I think you are. You're a coward. You left me to rot in that that prison."

Killian felt horrible. He wasn't close enough that the poison in his heart could activate but she was loud, and he could hear her screams clearly. She thought he'd abandoned her because he wanted to? Thought he replaced her? She'd waited for him? And her voice? It had lost the accent that so closely mimicked his. She sounded more like her mother, the mother who was getting the credit as the good person in all this. He hoped the other him could explain the situation.

"You must be Alice," Captain Hook told her.

"Glad you didn't forget my name, father."

The colour drained from Killian's face. Father? He was papa, damnit. Father was so cold. So distant. And he supposed he had been.

"I'm not your papa," Captain Hook explain.

"You're right. You're not. You're my father, not that you deserve that title any more. Papas are kind. And play with you. And don't leave their kid just to have another one with someone else. I had no one! You were all I had! And you LEFT me. Glad to see I'm replaceable to you. I never want to see you again."

"Alice, no. I know him. But I'm not him." And Captain Hook explained the situation. Alice scoffed.

"Fine then. Bring him here so I can yell at him."

"He heard everything. He can't come near you. His heart is poisoned. It'll kill him if he gets any closer."

"Fine! I never want to see you, either of you, again!" she yelled loud enough, Killian could hear her even better than before. And it hurt him more than he thought it would.

Killian sat down and let out tears. He had failed her. She had filled with so much hate. Gothel had got what she'd wanted. And Alice didn't want to see him ever again. He looked for the cure for a few more years. He wanted to see her before he died. And drank even more. He had nothing to live for. He drank, and he behaved recklessly. He was never the same again.

Gothel was ready to take action. This girl had more than enough hate to destroy the world.

"Alice Jones," Gothel approached her. Knowing that extra syllable would fuel a rage in the girl.

"It stopped being Jones a long time ago. It's just Alice. I don't use my father's name."

Gothel smirked. It had worked.

"Will you help me? I need a bit of your blood for a plan of mine."

"What's the plan?" Alice didn't really care she just wanted to yell at something. Or destroy something. Her father wasn't even bloody sorry he had abandoned her. He'd made up some excuse not to see her. Or made up some excuse to explain away the fact he had replaced her with a newer child.

"How do you feel about destroying the world?" Gothel was careful. This girl needed to feel in control.

"Will it make my father suffer for what he's done to me?"

"If you would like it to," Gothel told her.

"Gladly. What do you need?"

"Just a few drops of blood."

Alice gave it to her willingly. The spell worked and all the humans alive died leaving only the people Gothel wanted by her side. She then locked Alice back inside the tower.

"Thanks for your help," Gothel scoffed. "This is where you belong. Enjoy dying alone."

Gothel finished gloating and then left. Alice had been abandoned yet again.


End file.
